MARYLAND (WBFF) — As this year’s legislative session comes to a close, a proposal that would have increased penalties for stealing firearms failed to advance in Maryland, while lawmakers approved a separate measure restricting the sale of certain guns.
HB 0863, known as the Gun Theft Felony Act of 2026, never made it to the second reading. The bill sought to make theft of a firearm a felony, with penalties of up to five years in prison. The bill was originally introduced last session, where it also failed to move to a second reading.
Lt. Douglas Jess, president of the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 4, criticized the bill’s failure to gain traction. “The same legislature that is touting anti-gun violence, made sure that that bill did not pass,” Jess said.
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Asked about how often he has encountered stolen guns, Jess said, “Dozens.” He said the measure could have made a difference when police encounter stolen firearms. “That would have had a real effect of when the police apprehend someone with a gun that has been reported stolen, no matter what they were doing with it,” he said. “That could have had very, very good effect on public safety.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers passed a gun bill that essentially bans the sale of Glock-style guns that can be modified to shoot faster from being sold in Maryland by legal gun dealers. Jess described that approach as “purely political.”
Jess said the ban targets legal gun owners and would not deter criminals. “It’s not going to do a thing for our crime rate,” he said. He added, “My experience as a detective, running a detective’s unit for five years, stolen guns are the most prevalent problem that we have.”
Jess said lawmakers missed an opportunity to address what he described as a key public safety issue by not advancing the gun theft bill. “So that crime would have really done something for charging. For getting, you know, uh, criminals, violent criminals off the streets. But they were quick to vote that one down because it’s about the criminals,” he said.
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